Instrument Disassembly and Packing – July 2015

After successful passage of the Preliminary Acceptance Europe in May, the LN team began the long and complicated task of preparing the instrument for shipment to Arizona.

LINC-NIRVANA will make its way to the LBT in nine, large shipping containers and one oversized box containing the optical bench. In total, some 85 individual crates weighing a total of 37 tonnes will travel by ship from Heidelberg to Rotterdam/Bremerhaven and then across the Atlantic and through the Panama Canal to Los Angeles. From there, a fleet of trucks will transport the precious cargo to the LBT base camp.

The team has planned a sequence of ten re-installation campaigns over the fall and spring months, leading to readiness on the telescope in summer 2016.

Bon Voyage!

Lift Off! LINC-NIRVANA has "first flight" as the team tests the lifting traverse and other hardware needed for installation at LBT.